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wonderstuff

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#311620 1-Feb-2024 17:24
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Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I am sure you can help.

 

I have an elderly relative who enjoys using the internet and emailing people.   At one stage their email address was prominently on a website and therefore lots of people send them unsolicited emails.

 

Unfortunately, this relative is not a good judge of character and has been scammed many times to the tune of many tens of thousands of dollars.   And unfortunately, they continue to be contacted by people from Africa and Turkey and elsewhere and each time they want to help them out.

 

They have agreed for me to put some sort of spam filter in place, which was a break through.   However, they do not want their email address changed, which is understandable.  

 

I have access to their DNS and MX records so can feed it through a service.   Can anyone recommend a service where I can use a default set of rules, but also add further rules for filtering out (or holding) email.   I don't want these going to the junk folder, as this is too easy to find, I would rather have it held somewhere for occasional cursory review, and only have the genuine emails delivered.    

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

This is a real stress for the family.

 

 

 

Any recommendations appreciated.

 

 


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Tinkerisk
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  #3189381 1-Feb-2024 19:06
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Sounds like a job where you might as well be herding fleas. Under the given circumstances, it's a pretty difficult endeavour to try and protect someone in the spotlight of the internet.





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CYaBro
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  #3189391 1-Feb-2024 19:38
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So they have their own domain name?




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mattwnz
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  #3189399 1-Feb-2024 19:56
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Why not point the domain to Googles email hosting which has spam protection. 




wonderstuff

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  #3189882 3-Feb-2024 12:23
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CYaBro: So they have their own domain name?

 

 

 

Yes, they have their own domain which I am able to redirect or change records for.


wonderstuff

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  #3189883 3-Feb-2024 12:25
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mattwnz:

 

Why not point the domain to Googles email hosting which has spam protection. 

 

 

 

 

I did this last year.  But it was not able to weed out the more sophisticated scammers.


Reanalyse
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  #3189887 3-Feb-2024 13:11
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wonderstuff:

 

mattwnz:

 

Why not point the domain to Googles email hosting which has spam protection. 

 

 

 

 

I did this last year.  But it was not able to weed out the more sophisticated scammers.

 

 

Rather than try to block all spam (and having setup Spam Assassin and similar on my own servers, find that can be like trying to catch water in a sieve) could you adopt another approach, that of Whitelisting.

 

Work through the last year or so of history to identify all the valid emails by sender and sender domain and allow them through in future. All other emails held in  a "not so accessible" location for periodic joint review when the whitelist can be updated.

 

 

 

 


 
 
 
 

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ANglEAUT
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  #3190048 3-Feb-2024 19:53
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wonderstuff: ...  However, they do not want their email address changed, which is understandable.

 

Reanalyse: ... could you adopt another approach, that of Whitelisting.

 

Work through the last year or so of history to identify all the valid emails by sender and sender domain and allow them through in future. All other emails held in  a "not so accessible" location for periodic joint review when the whitelist can be updated.

 

 

I'll use Gmail as an example, adjust according to your needs

 

     

  1. Create a new Gmail account
  2. Set new Gmail account to "send as" old Gmail account / have reply to address set to old Gmail address as default
  3. Get elderly relative to log into new Gmail account only. Reset pwd for old Gmail account
  4. Set rules on old Gmail account to "skip inbox & archive"
  5. Set rules on old Gmail account to move whitelisted addresses back to Inbox
  6. Set new Gmail account to "download" emails from old Gmail account
  7. Review "archived emails" in old Gmail account & move to Inbox, ready to download into new Gmail account

 

 

 

  • Alternatively, consider setting up a Gmail group & configure "Message moderation" that will set all email into a pending state & require a manual release.
  • If using MS Office, set relatives mailbox as a shared mailbox, configure new mailbox to "send as" old mailbox & drag "allowed" emails from "old" shared mailbox to new inbox

 

 

The other things that I can think of apply more to corporations & many users instead of a single person.

 

 

 

 

 

 





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Tinkerisk
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  #3190049 3-Feb-2024 20:11
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@ANglEAUT

 

You can do that, but it's only a matter of time and a race before she ends up on some list again and clicks on something again.





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ANglEAUT
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  #3190135 3-Feb-2024 23:58
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Tinkerisk: ... You can do that, but it's only a matter of time and a race before she ends up on some list again and clicks on something again.

 

Agreed, but that's the job of wonderstuff to whitelist the emails & basically vet the incoming emails. I was simply expanding the idea of Reanalyse into a real life example.

 

 





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wonderstuff

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  #3190230 4-Feb-2024 11:03
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Thanks for your suggestions.   I will look into the white list option.  

 

Also I see that Crazydomains has a Email Protection service that works at the MX records level.   

 

I am a little bit skeptical about this one, but may try it out for a month.

 

BTW: its a he not a she. :-) 


ANglEAUT
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  #3190471 4-Feb-2024 16:48
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wonderstuff:

 

Thanks for your suggestions.   I will look into the white list option.  

 

Also I see that Crazydomains has a Email Protection service that works at the MX records level.   

 

...

 

 

Please share with us if you find a working solution. Good luck.

 

 





Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.


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